Grow
by HeiligeHarmonie
Summary: With each passing day, the world heals a little more, and Terra learns a little bit more about living her new life. What will a discovery in the woods teach her? What's more, what can she teach him?
1. The Man in the Forest

**Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters likely belong to Square Enix, as I do not plan on including anyone else's characters, though I'll be sure to note if I do**

"Clint! Wait!" cried the little black haired boy as he stumbled over rocks and twigs, ducking under the fresh branches of the forest that, after more than two years, was finally coming back to life. "Mama said you're not supposed to leave me behind!"

"Well, hurry up!" cried the other boy, Clint, whose longer legs and ability to brush the spindly branches aside carried him faster. "I want to know what that light was." He slowed to a stop and waited for the younger boy to catch up.

"B-but what if it's a monster or…or…" He glanced from side to side and whispered, "Kefka?" as if being overheard would somehow make the murderous harlequin leap from the brush.

Clint gave the boy a stern look. "Danny. You know Kefka's gone. He can't do anything else to us or anyone else. Mama and her friends made sure of that."

"Yeah, but—" Danny protested.

"No buts!" He grabbed the boy by the wrist and pulled him forward, so as to be sure he didn't fall behind again.

"But Mama said—Oh, Clint, what is that?" he squeaked, digging his heels into the dirt and refusing to move another inch.

Clint squinted at the form lying ahead of them on the forest floor. It was hard to make out exactly _what_ he was looking at, for it looked like little more than a mangled mass of hair, cloth, and blood. He pried Danny's hands from his shirt and crept forward for a better look.

"I…think it's a person," he said, though his voice revealed his uncertainty. He stuck his foot out and bumped the mass with his toe. It groaned, and he leapt back with a yelp. "Uh…uh…MAMA!" He turned and sped past Danny, tearing through the woods to get back to town.

"H-hey, wait! Mama!" Danny squealed, following Clint's lead.

As the boys fled, the man they'd left behind twitched. Though he'd been conscious, his pain had put him into a stupor that he'd only just come out of at the sound of their voices, though he'd found it hard to understand what they were saying. All he could determine is that they sounded frightened and were moving away from him, a wise action.

Clint threw the door open so violently that it slammed into the wall, frightening the group of children and the pair of young women sitting in the kitchen.

"Mama! Mama!" he gasped, doubling over in the doorway to catch his breath. "There's a—AHK!" Danny slammed into Clint from behind, sending them both tumbling forward.

"Goodness!" the older of the two women, Terra, cried, dropping her ladle into the pot of stew that stood on the stove and hurrying to the boys. She lifted Danny by his arms and set him to the side before helping Clint right himself. "What's wrong?"

"Flash…flash of light…went to investigate…"

"Okay, breathe first, and then tell me."

Clint took a few deep breaths, then said quickly, "There was a flash of light in the wood so we went to go check it out and we found some guy laying on the ground and he's all bloody and I thought he was dead but then I kicked him and he ground and then we ran and now we're here."

Terra stared at him a moment, his jumbled words taking a bit longer to register in her brain. "There's a…Oh!" She hopped to her feet, untying her apron and throwing it on a hook by the door. "Katarin, take the stew off and boil some water."

The other woman nodded, placing the infant she held into a crib the stood nearby and setting to work on Terra's request.

"Danny," Terra continued, stepping to a chest of drawers and pulling out the topmost one. "You go find Duane and then come find Clint and me." She reached into the draw and withdrew a roll of bandages. "And you, Clint, take me to him."

Danny scurried out the door ahead of them, taking off in the direction of the newly planted garden rather than the forest.

"What were you even doing in the forest?" Terra asked Clint as she jogged behind him.

"Uh…I already told you," he said nervously. "Investigating."

"How many times have I told you that—"

"—It's dangerous! I know. Can we worry about this later?"

Terra was startled by his biting tone. Clint had been getting more irritable over the past few months. But Katarin had told her this was normal, that all boys act like that when they go through puberty. Even so, it still concerned Terra. Perhaps she just wanted him to stay a little boy forever. Ah, well, she'd best get used to it, for Nick, Matt, and Danny would be going through the same phase in due time.

They entered the forest. Clint charged through just as roughly as he had before, a contrast to Terra's careful avoidance of the smaller saplings.

After several minutes, Clint called out, "He's over here!" He circled around the fallen man and crouched next to him, looking up at Terra as she sunk to the ground opposite him.

"What could have happened to him?" Clint asked her.

"Clearly, he was attacked by something." She glanced up at the boy. "_Because the world is still very dangerous."_

"Feh," was all the boy said.

"What I want to know is," Terra said, carefully lifting a scrap of white fabric, the remains of a sleeve, to get a better look, "is where he came from."

The man's clothing was rather tattered from his ordeal, but Terra could still tell it was like nothing she'd ever seen before. She'd once traveled the world, and she'd seen the variations in clothing styles in different regions, but never before had she seen something such as this.

She unrolled a length of bandaging, tore it off with her teeth, and handed to Clint. "Find the worst of his wounds," she instructed. "We patch him up as best we can here, then we'll do it properly back at the house." She unrolled a bandage to use herself and set to work binding a gash in the man's thigh. She'd learned much about treating wounds in the year since magic had disappeared from the world, and now would be the test of her skills.

With his leg taken care of, she moved to his torso. A large swath of fabric that seemed as though it would normally hang from his hips had wrapped itself around his middle and been soaked in blood. She carefully peeled back the cloth, gasping at the slash across his ribs.

"Clint."

"Got it." Clint grabbed the man by the shoulders and, with a bit of difficulty, pulled him forward to allow Terra to bandage his ribs.

The man moaned. He'd slipped back into stupor not long before, but was being roused once again, this time certain that he was moving, but why?

"Are you awake?" Terra asked him, pausing in her wrapping but briefly.

The man didn't answer, though that could mean either that he simply wasn't, or that he was unable to speak. Terra had leaned across him to pass the bandage behind his back once more when she felt something furry snake around her ankle. She squeaked in surprise and snapped her head to the side to see just _what_ had wrapped itself around her leg. She knit her brows together and cocked her head at the serpentine creature she saw, covered in fur of the same white-lavender color on the man's head.

"What's wrong?"

"Uh…nothing," Terra lied, even as her eyes followed the creature's length to the man's body, where it disappeared beneath him. Was it some kind of pet or some kind of appendage? She shook her head lightly, deciding not to worry herself with it at the moment.

Rocks and twigs crunched nearby, and the young man Terra had been waiting for emerged between the trees, Danny clutching his hand.

"What's going on? Duane asked. He took one look at the scene before him and stepped back, eyes wide. "Wha—Danny! Why didn't you tell me?"

Danny just made a few incoherent noises. It seemed the child was too frightened to form words anymore.

"I need you to help me get him back to the house." She pushed the man's hair from his face and froze, momentarily stuck dumb but how, even in his current state, how shockingly beautiful this strange man was.

"Uh, right!" Duane nodded and stepped over the man.

Clint scrambled out of the way, and Terra helped Duane pull the man onto his back, watching the strange appendage swing limply and disappear behind tattered garments. The man groaned again.

"I'm sorry," Terra said gently, leaning close to his ear. "You'll get to rest soon."

'_Rest?'_ The man wondered vaguely if the voice he'd just hear was that of some kind of otherworldly spirit promising that death would finally take him. He couldn't be sure; he'd been unable to discern what was real and what was only happening in his head for some time now.

"Be careful with him," Terra said, walking ahead of Duane to push branches and brush out of Duane's path. "He's in horrible shape."

"Don't worry, Terra, I've got him. Don't give me at look." He smiled at her, trying to ease her frown. "We're all going to help out. This guy's gonna make it."

While Terra did worry for the man's survival, that was not why she frowned. For a brief moment, she'd sensed something from the man. Duane failed to notice it, for it was not something he'd once lived with his entire life. As impossible as it was, she was certain she'd sensed magic.


	2. Waking

_**Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters likely belong to Square Enix**_

* * *

><p><em>-orring so much, Terra.<em>

_-ight here, Terra._

_Terra._

_Terra._

_Terra._

The name echoed through Kuja's head as he teetered on the edge of consciousness and unconsciousness. Was it his mind's warped way of making him feel guilty? Ridiculous. Of all the things he'd done, of all the things he should regret…Terra was nothing more than a barren world waiting to die. The people of Terra wished to defy nature…

And yet, as hard as he tried to block them out, the hallucinations continued, until he wished for nothing more than to fall into the darkness, rather than be trapped in this limbo. The darkness, however, seemed to have other plans. It gradually faded away, the whispers of his home soon joined by other unintelligible sounds, and before long, the darkness had given way to a soft, warm light. For the first time in what had to have been ages, Kuja could feel his eyelids twitch, his heart beating. And then came the dull ache all over his body and the sharp pains scattered in so many places, he couldn't even pinpoint them. He wanted to writhe, but moving only made it worse.

So he lay still, and as he did so, he quickly came to the realization that he was very much alive. He squeezed his eyelids tighter together and cursed whatever being had left his worthless existence intact, much less in the wretched state.

Terra pushed her bedroom door open, arms laden with rolls of fresh bandages. A young, blonde girl tottered in behind her, carrying a pot of warm water. She slid the pot onto the little table next to the bed, careful not to overturn the candle.

"Thank you, Cassie," Terra whispered, stacking the bandages next to the pot. Cassie nodded and hurried from the room to finish her chores, closing the door softly behind her.

Terra looked down at the man in her bed and frowned at the grimace on his face. It was worrisome that he was in so much pain that he would frown in his sleep, but it did mean that he was becoming more aware; perhaps he would wake soon.

She brought her gaze from his face to his arms resting atop the blankets. The one nearest her was wrapped from wrist to elbow in bandages. She reached for that arm, carefully slipping her hand beneath it and lifting it from the bed.

Kuja was ripped from his pain induced stupor by a sudden touch on his right arm. His eyes snapped open and he snatched his arm away, hissing at the pain the movement caused him.

"Oh!" Terra gasped, flinching a bit. "So, you are awake."

Kuja cut his eyes at her, his neck too stiff to move easily. His eyes adjusted quickly to the candlelight; he could clearly see her soft features in the dim room. "Where am I? Who are you? And why—" he lifted his hand to rub his face and groaned "—are you _touching_ me?"

"I need to change you bandages, that's why," she said firmly, reaching for his arm again, even as he tried to pull it further from her grasp. "You're in Mobliz." She gave up on reaching for his wrist and took hold of his bicep instead. "And my name is Terra."

Kuja halted his motions long enough for her to tug his arm down and get a good grip on it. There was that name yet again. Perhaps it wasn't his conscience that had tormented him, after all. Surely she lived with others; it must have been their voices speaking her name he'd heard in his semiconscious state.

She began unwinding the bandage on his forearm, and Kuja tugged his arm again, but found himself too weak to break her surprisingly strong grip. She removed her eyes from her work only for a brief moment and shot a glare at him. "Hold still."

"I don't take well to being given orders," he said flatly, returning her hard look. "And you waste your time."

"Hm, you seem to be healing fine to me." She finished removing the bandage and turned Kuja's arm to show him the gash running up it, still open but shining the pink color of healthy tissue rather than oozing red blood. "And you seem pretty alert, too."

She turned a bit and reached for the pot of water, lifting a cloth from its depths and one-handedly wringing the excess water from it. Kuja saw this as another chance to reclaim his arm and tugged once more, but Terra simply draped the cloth over the side of the pot and, with a loud smack, brought her hand swiftly down on the back of his. Kuja sunk his teeth into his bottom lip to keep from screaming at her. Far he may have fallen, but if he was going to be forced to stay in this world for even just a short amount of time, he'd maintain any dignity he could. He made an attempt to lift his other arm, to bat her away, but found it far stiffer and far more painful to lift than most other parts of his body. He glanced at it; and splint was secured to his forearm.

"Stop squirming," Terra sighed, lifting the cloth again and dabbing Kuja's wound. "Your injuries may be healing well, but they still need to be cared for."

"I prefer not to be touched," Kuja protested.

Terra paused to look at him, raising an eyebrow. "Oh? And I suppose you think you can do this yourself."

"I have my ways."

Terra sighed again, closing her eyes for a moment before slowly reopening them. She held Kuja's gaze. "You can't even pull your arm away from me, and you expect to be strong enough to use your magic?"

He frowned. How much did she know about him? If she knew he could use magic, she'd certainly have to know who he was, and if that was the case, why would she…

Kuja suddenly thought of Zidane, of how his brother had come back for him, even after all that he'd done. He wondered if he'd managed to make it out of the Iifa Tree, which then raised the question of how he'd gotten out himself. There was only one explanation.

"Where's the person who brought me here?" he asked quietly, no longer looking at her, but into a dark corner on the other side of the room.

"There was someone else? Was he injured, too?"

The fear in her voice made him glance at her, the desire to see it on her face nothing more than habit, now, but he looked away almost immediately. She was like Zidane, it seemed, intent on helping others.

"Relax. I doubt he was."

Terra reached into the pocket of her apron for a tub of ointment, struggling a bit to unscrew the lid with one hand. "If there was someone with you, why would he have left you in the woods in your condition?"

Again, Kuja looked at her, this time rolling his head over on the pillow and looking at her fully, his face hardening. She had a point, a better one than she knew. Zidane had risked his life to reenter the Iifa Tree and had somehow managed to escape with him in tow. There was no way Zidane would have just left him in the woods to die, and if he'd just left for a few moments, surely he'd have found Kuja by now.

Then Zidane hadn't carried him out of the Iifa Tree. He couldn't have. And now that he thought about it, Kuja had ever heard of a place called, what was it…Mobliz? Was it possible he was no longer on Gaia? But how had he been sent to another planet? And what had happened to Zidane, then…

Kuja closed his eyes. All of this was starting to give him a headache. He didn't even have the energy to protest against the woman touching him anymore, even as she finished with his arm and pulled back the blanket to start elsewhere on his body. He lifted his (finally) free arm and laid it across his forehead.

"I need you to sit up so I can get this one," Terra said, patting his ribs so gently, Kuja barely felt her touch at all.

Kuja peeked at her from under his arm, considering, and then, with a groan, removed it from his head and offered it to her. She took it, gripping just above the elbow; she slid her other hand under his shoulder. It was easier to sit him up when he was conscious, Terra noticed, even if he could only help a little.

"You know, you still haven't told me your name," Terra pointed out, leaning in close to unwind the bandaging while allowing Kuja to lean against her shoulder.

"How rude of me," Kuja said through a stiff jaw, still bothered by the contact. "But my name really is of no importance. I told you, you're wasting your time."

"Don't give me that," Terra chastised, leaving one arm across his chest to keep him upright and she straightened and reached for the cloth in the pot again. "If your wounds get infected, you'd never regain the strength you need to heal them yourself."

"That's not what I—How is it that you know I can use magic?" He hissed when she pressed the cloth to his wound, this one deeper than the one on his arm.

"Tell me your name first."

Kuja pursed his lips, a growl threatening to rumble from his throat. He did not like her bargaining, but curiosity tore at him, and he'd have liked to have been certain of at least one thing in this situation in which he knew nothing. "Kuja."

"Was that so hard?" She smeared the ointment across the wound and began wrapping the new bandage around him. "I can feel it in the air around you," she answered.

"What a peculiar ability."

"Not as peculiar as being able to use magic."

"Hm, I suppose that's true," he admitted.

"No, it really is odd." She secured the bandage and stepped back, keeping her hands on his shoulders. "Magic completely disappeared from the world a year ago, when the source of it was destroyed."

Kuja arched an eyebrow. That was all the proof he needed. This was most certainly not Gaia. He shook his head. "I really don't feel up to talking anymore, Miss Terra."

She smiled gently. "Right, I've probably worn you out. I'm sorry." She helped him ease back down on the mattress. "I'll just finish changing your bandages and let you go back to sleep."

Kuja didn't respond, but turned his head away from her and stared at the wall. He hadn't meant that he was tired when he'd said that, just that the thoughts buzzing in his head put him in even less of a mood to talk, but as soon as is head was on the pillow once more, he'd suddenly felt so tired, he'd almost been able to fall asleep despite Terra's tending.


End file.
